


whipping boy

by canadino



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 22:06:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3504446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canadino/pseuds/canadino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For him, he'll dull his thorns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	whipping boy

Ask anyone, and more than half the time, people will say Tsukishima Kei is a prickly boy (he knows Hinata and Kageyama would add more colorful words and even Yamaguchi would admit, after being pressed relentlessly, that Tsukishima isn't the easiest person to get along with). But honestly, he doesn't really mind - on the contrary, he relishes it, considers it high praise. His mother says he's going through a teenage phase and his father laughs and says he was also rebellious as a teenager (and Akiteru laughs too, in that anxious way of his, and says they're both different even though they're cut from the same cloth). 

"Hey," Kageyama says. "Can you go get some spare balls from the equipment room? Hinata keeps spiking them into the wings today and he can only run to get them so fast."

"Get them yourself," Tsukishima retorts, thinking the way Kageyama frowns at his tone to be so funny. "Or is that something below the King's status? Please forgive this impudent commoner."

Kageyama opens his mouth to shoot something just as scathing back when Tsukishima feels a hand on his back, gentle pressure against his shoulder blade. "Tsukishima," Sugawara says, his voice caressing his name like one would expect a mother for her child, "would you mind grabbing a few balls for me? Kageyama's been taking a lot of our balls since he and Hinata are working on speed and it's taking a toll on the rest of us." 

Tsukishima feels his lip curl. "Of course," he says, hating himself all the while. He knows Kageyama will smile gratefully at Sugawara when his back is turned and is pretty sure Sugawara has only asked him for Kageyama's sake, to save them all face, but it irks him that his feet move to the equipment room, covering the space in no time because his legs are so long. When he comes back with as many balls as he can carry, he makes it a point, even though Kageyama is right there, to hand them all to Sugawara. "Here," he says, instinct preventing him from adding _sempai._

_"_ Thank you, Tsukishima," Sugawara says, bowing his head slightly as his arms accept the offering of so many volleyballs. Their arms brush and the feeling makes Tsukishima's lip curl even more. "You're a great help."

If it were anyone else - except the captain, he would never speak back to the captain - he might have spat back something about not being patronizing or coddling him was insulting him, but he only turns and skulks back over to Yamaguchi, who reads his expression immediately and gives him space. He spends the rest of practice in what he suspects is what his mother calls his sulking mode. Yamaguchi rattles off at him about trivial things when they walk home together, something he always does whenever he can sense Tsukishima is upset about something and wants to tiptoe to avoid stepping on a land mine. 

"Yamaguchi," he interrupts as Yamaguchi blathers about a story he heard about Takeda from class two. "What do you think about Sugawara?"

"Sugawara?" Yamaguchi blinks. "I think he's a good upperclassman, very responsible. He's a really good vice captain, I think."

"I see," Tsukishima says flatly. 

"Speaking of which," Yamaguchi says, his voice taking on that slightly panicked quality that it had before Tsukishima had interrupted him, "don't you think the third years have such an interesting friendship? I don't think I've ever seen Sugawara without the captain. They're, like, inseparable." 

"Who cares," Tsukishima grumbles. He feels his face settle into a glower. "It's probably just captain things."

"Yeah, probably," Yamaguchi agrees, to smooth over the wrinkle he has accidentally rustled up. Tsukishima feels a little bad for taking it out on Yamaguchi when it isn't his fault and makes it up by telling Yamaguchi he did well in practice today when they finally break to go to their respective houses. The beaming face Yamaguchi gives him makes him feel that it's good enough positive vibes to make up for his negativity. 

In fact, he almost forgets it the next day when he's looking at the results of the class testing on the board in the first year wing. He's placed tenth in the class. Nice. He sees Yamaguchi's name three names below his and peruses the chart to see Hinata and Kageyama's names along the middle to latter half and scoffs to himself. They only remain where they are because the captain would kill them if they had to spend time doing remedial classes. "You're so smart, Tsukishima," Sugawara says.

Tsukishima, with better emotional control than Hinata, does not start away from Sugawara, who has suddenly appeared next to him, hand on his chin, staring at the first year results. "It's nothing major," Tsukishima shrugs. 

"No, it is," Sugawara insists. "You're a good boy, Tsukishima." Tsukishima tries not to glow with pride and instead asks,

"Why are you over in the first year wing, _sempai_?"

"I'm running an errand for my homeroom teacher. He left all our science tests in the lab and I just need to fetch them for him." 

"Oh." Sugawara smiles at him and he bursts out, "I'll come with you."

"You don't need to," Sugawara blinks. "I know where the science wing is."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, if you don't want me to, that's fine too." He's running his mouth like an excitable Yamaguchi. His hands in his pockets is good indicator enough that he's still cool, calm, and collected. "I just thought you might…hmm…it wouldn't be good if you changed the answers to those tests for the people you don't like, would it?"

It's cheeky, but Sugawara laughs. "Well, if that's the case, the teachers still trust me enough to keep running these dangerous, ethically dubious errands." He cocks his head. "But I don't mind the company, if you want to come with me." Tsukishima says nothing and falls into stride, noting to walk a little slower because his legs cover slightly more ground than his upperclassman and he doesn't want to look rude. "I appreciate you going to get the balls yesterday," Sugawara says. 

Tsukishima lets his lips twist into a thin line. "I didn't mean to mettle but it…would be nice if all the first years got along. As the vice captain, I should be keeping you all together and friendly so Daichi doesn't have to worry on that on top of taking the team to Nationals." 

"You call him by his first name, huh."

Sugawara looks at him. "I've known Daichi for three years and he's one of my best friends. Isn't that normal?"

"I guess." They reach the science wing and Sugawara stops right outside the third year lab room. 

"Would you like me to call you by your first name?"

"No," Tsukishima practically yells. It's a startled, knee-jerk reaction. It would be weird, anyway. He's younger than Sugawara. He's a regular, but Sugawara's got seniority. That would be out of place. "I mean, we're teammates, but we're not…I mean. You haven't known me for three years."

"I don't mind." Tsukishima remembers Sugawara's emphasis on teamwork and team building. What a stupid reaction he had to that. Now he looks foolish and he's in the college prep course. "Whatever makes you comfortable. You should be getting back to homeroom, Kei. I don't think first years have this period free."

"You look really cheerful," Yamaguchi says when Tsukishima slides into his seat in homeroom, barely on time to start class.

"Shut up, Yamaguchi," Tsukishima says automatically. 

[=]

It's bad enough his stomach flip flops whenever he hears Sugawara call him by his first name, but then his stomach flip flops again immediately afterwards in anger when practically everyone turns to him with wide, amazed eyes when Sugawara calls for him from across the gym and he needs to walk up to his upperclassman with a face blazed red. It's none of their businesses. But somehow he can't bring himself to ask Sugawara to stop calling him Kei. 

They're on cleaning duty today and Sugawara is chattering away at him (honestly, Tsukishima thinks, what is it with people thinking he's a great sounding block just because he only responds when he really needs to and spends most of his time with his headphones in and is too nice to tell people that he doesn't care?). He shifts the weight on his feet when Sugawara locks up the gym, putting the key in his bag carefully like the responsible boy he is. 

"Listen," Tsukishima begins. 

"Yes?" Sugawara beams at him like he always does. "Do you want me to buy you a bun on the way home? I think the shop should still be open. I know you missed going with the others because we had cleaning duty. It's the least I can do."

"No, not that." He doesn't think with his stomach like certain idiots. He makes a fist with his hands, behind his back, and releases them. "Is…is it okay for me…" He isn't like this. All the other excitable airheads on the team are rubbing off on him. "So you call me by my first name, so should…can I call you by your first name or would that be weird." It doesn't end with an inflection because the question suddenly sounds so ridiculous to his ears. "Sorry, that was stupid."

"No, it wasn't." Sugawara's smile is so brilliant. "You can, if you want to!"

By asking it, and being granted permission, Tsukishima knows it's basically expected that he follow through. It was never something he visualizes himself doing, just the thought of saying the name on his tongue is enough to make himself storm off on his own in a huff. But Sugawara is watching him with anticipation now, so he has to do it. "Koushi," he practically mumbles. 

"Is it okay if I kiss you?" Sugawara asks. 

"Sure," Tsukishima says. He thinks Sugawara can have anything he wants from him if he asked. Sugawara's lips only brush against his but he squeezes his eyes shut anyway. When Sugawara begins walking to the gate, Tsukishima feels distanced enough from that breezy, devil-may-care personality of his to call, "So are we dating now or something?"

Sugawara's laugh bubbles up in reply. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and leave a comment if you liked it!


End file.
